Westeros

So, eager to hear a little bit about what the first episode will reveal to those watching? HBO teases the season premiere episode “Valar Dohaeris”, and runs through a lengthy list of notable returning and new cast members, in a press release they’ve sent to the media. As there’s spoilers herein, to some degree, we’re just going to put everything under the cut… so click on through!

Over at EW, James Hibberd has posted the first of fifteen exclusive interviews ahead of the March 31st premiere of Game of Thrones. The first interview features Gwendoline Christie—Brienne of Tarth on the show—discussing initial reactions to her casting and her character’s journey, with just a wee bit of detail regarding scenes she’s filmed for this season.

Check it out, and keep an eye on the #EWThrones hashtag on Twitter to learn when the rest of the interviews are published, as they will be once each weekday until the premiere.

At some point, I need to gather up all these interviews with actors that have been sneaking out the last month or two, and just make a big post with them all. Until then, however, here’s a interview with Rose Leslie, who plays Ygritte on Game of Thrones, courtesy of Access Hollywood. Nice to hear from her, as she didn’t get much in the way of attention for the second season when her role was something of a late entry into the series.

James Hibberd at EW has another scoop regarding season 3 of Game of Thrones. Just as with last year’s reveal that The National performed “The Rains of Castamere” for the show, indie rock band The Hold Steady are performing a rendition of—get this—“The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, a very popular bit of song in Westeros.

Hibberd quotes the producers:

So, that will be rather interesting to hear. I’m guessing it’ll be included on the official soundtrack for season 3, as well… and may well be released as a single before hand.

The official Game of Thrones Twitter channel has just started unleashing a series of official character posters for season 3, which shall soon see an extended version of the season 3 trailer hit HBO, HBO On Demand, and (we suspect) the internet.

These posters will begin to appear in print and outdoors promotion (think bus stops and buses, posters, etc.) from next week. You can see them all below:

Over at Entertainment Weekly, James Hibberd has the scoop with the exclusive premiere of the season 3 poster, featuring a silhouette of one of Daenerys Targaryen’s young dragons in flight. An interesting image to choose from. As Hibberd notes, the first season was Ned Stark on the Iron Throne, the second was a hand grasping a crown. These both refer to the central storylines of the previous two seasons, with Ned in King’s Landing as Hand and the War of the Five Kings. A shift to Dany suggests they may be emphasizing her storyline this year.

Well, this is a surprise: the season 3 trailer for Game of Thrones will get its world premiere on Jimmy Kimmel Live this Friday, with it going up on Youtube immediately after the East Coast airing. Here’s the press release, straight from HBO:

HBO has just announced a traveling exhibit that will start in March and appear in five different countries from March to June. It sounds like it’s going to feature some pretty remarkable things. Locations include Toronto, New York City, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, and Belfast, Full details below:

The official Making Game of Thrones production blog has a post detailing the ending of season 3 filming late last year in Iceland. The environment they were in sounds rather amazing:

As to what they were filming? Despite it being at the very end of the shoot, it’s an opening scene from the first episode, directed by Dan Minahan. Some spoilerish details follow:

Back in October, we stumbled across the fact that young actor Dean-Charles Chapman had a role in season 3 of Game of Thrones, as revealed by his talent agency. We did some digging, got some fairly solid leads as to who he might be playing, and we dutifully asked for confirmation. We were informed that that wasn’t possible, so we let it lie and, I admit, rather forgot about it. Since his casting has been more widely publicized, we’ll share what we learned back then:

A new entry at the official Making Game of Thrones production blog provides some new information regarding filming in Iceland (which has been a topic featured both in a video blog and a new Bluray excerpt), as it reveals a bit about filming a scene among the wildling encampment where Jon is taken to meet actor Ian Whyte, who played Ser Gregor this past season (and a White Walker in both of the previous seasons):

What do we think this means?

And now a surprise, as George R.R. Martin trots out Froggie the Gremlin for a most unexpected casting clue. For those who’ve missed them previously, for prior seasons Martin has occasionally revealed actors who’ve been cast in roles by the use of clues. Inevitably, he’d use his Froggy the Gremlin avatar to signal when it was a clue.

This one threw me, since it’s rather early to be casting season 4 when the 5th season isn’t even greenlit. But of course, others who are smarter (or at least in earlier timezones) resolved the clue quite quickly: “It’s the Pits!” refers to a specific pit that will be appearing this season, and the “son of Homer” is, of course, Bart Simpson.

Here’s a couple of fascinating tidbits from interviews with Ciarán Hinds and James Purefory, both who had been on HBO’s Rome—a fine show, one of the most lavish productions ever put to screen as a regular hour long drama—and who have been asked (for various reasons) to remark on HBO’s Game of Thrones. Of course, only one of these actors is actually on the show, but the other has been a fan-favorite when it comes to casting speculation…

First, of course, is Ciarán Hinds, the actor cast as Mance Rayder whom we recently glimpsed in HBO’s latest video. Speaking to Irish Central, Hinds had the following to say about the first season of the show when he decided to catch up to it:

HBO’s official Game of Thrones Youtube channel has uploaded a brand new video, featuring writer and editor Bryan Cogman (recently interviewed here regarding season 3) about the process of turning the books into the series. Cogman’s work entails providing the notes and outlines of the books that help serve as the underpinnings of the upcoming season, and it’s interesting to see that process described somewhat. Also, the video features some glimpses of season 3 filming, including a brief scene featuring Dame Diana Rigg as Olenna Tyrell, as well as other new cast members such as Ciarán Hinds as the King-beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder (lacking, alas, his black cloak sewn with red silk) and Clive Russell as Ser Brynden Tully, called the Blackfish.

Via Flicks and the City (which is a great source for interviews of film and television actors, particularly those based in the UK), there’s an excellent interview with Julian Glover, who plays Grand Maester Pycelle. He discusses details of the third season (including giving a taste of a scene he shares with Charles Dance), and also the way that his character was somewhat adjusted from what’s in the novels. Initially, the writers wanted Pycelle to simply be a dottering old man, but Glover indicates he grew tired of this and asked for more to do… and so they came up with the notion that his aged demeanor is a put on, a way to disarm suspicion and attention from himself. Of course, in the novels, Pycelle is rather less decrepit until events in A Clash of Kings than he has been played in the show.

You can see the interview below (and beware, there are spoilers for future season!):